Blog

The Idea Finishing School’s client, PREE Corporation, has been accepted into this year’s Annual San Antonio Beta Summit, hosted by the Greater San Antonio Chamber of Commerce and sponsored by Rackspace Hosting.

The Beta Summit includes six eight-minute demonstrations of selected new technologies from San Antonio’s most promising new companies.  It is an ideal opportunity for companies to showcase their products and technologies to qualified angel investors and venture capitalists, as well as over 1,000 summit attendees.

PREE will be showcasing their innovative wireless charger for battery-powered devices, including smartphones, tablet PCs, and countless other mobile electronics.  It will be an excellent opportunity for the team to get out into the community and continue the dialogue the team started with the community last year.

This year’s San Antonio Beta Summit will be held on March 3, 2011 from 8:30 to 4:30 at the Norris Conference Center.  Visit their website for more details.

PREE™ Corporation announced today the continued growth of the company’s executive management with the addition of Dr. Arturo Ayon.  He will serve on PREE’s Board of Directors and as the Chief Technology Officer, where he will oversee the sustained development and expansion of the company’s technology portfolio.

Arturo Ayon, Ph.D. is the founding Director of the MEMS Research Laboratory and Vice President for Research Development at the University of Texas at San Antonio.  Dr. Ayon received both his Master and Doctoral degrees in nuclear science and engineering from Cornell University.  Since then, Dr. Ayon has researched and developed technologies at several institutions, including Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Sony, and has pioneered research and product development in radio-frequency transmissions, nanotechnology, solar energy, and microelectronmechanical systems.  “Arturo’s professional experience combined with his extensive research and technology development make him a valuable addition to our team,” said PREE President and CEO Rudy W. De La Garza.

PREE Corporation has developed the proprietary PREEcharge™ technology, a wireless charger designed for smartphones by Apple (NASDAQ:APPL), Google’s (NASDAQ:GOOG) Android-based devices, and Research in Motion’s (NASDAQ:RIMM) BlackBerry.  The wireless charging technology is also designed for use with tablet PC’s, such as Apple’s iPad and Samsung’s Galaxy Tab, as well as e-readers, like Amazon’s (NASDAQ:AMZN) Kindle.  With continued strong sales in consumer electronics, and a range of new devices set to launch later this year, the market for wireless chargers will be significant.

Source:  PREE Corp. Press Release

Last month, IFS’s CFO Rudy W. De La Garza spoke to students at UTSA’s Center for Innovation and Technology Entrepreneurship Boot Camp. The event was a great success and Rudy has been asked back next semester! Check out the video below to see the beginning of his presentation where he discussed with the students what we do at the Idea Finishing School.

For all of the IFS clients, we have decided to start running a blog series titled “Company Spotlight.”  In these posts, we’ll highlight the technologies and companies behind them that have worked closely with the Idea Finishing School.  For our initial post, I decided to write about the app developers at Idea Apps, Inc.

Idea Apps, Inc. is team of experienced iPhone app developers and Android app developers that build fully customized mobiles apps for all platforms, including iPhone, Android, and BlackBerry.  They have a unique approach to doing business and strive to help individuals and businesses recognize and take advantage of mobile app investments.

Idea Apps is offering a unique partnership program that is looking for great app ideas.  If your app idea qualifies the company will build your app and you will earn a share of the profits.

The team at Idea Apps is part of an exciting and rapidly growing industry, and they are the developers of choice for the Idea Finishing School’s clients.

The Idea Finishing School’s most recent Idea Xchange was a well-attended event with numerous app ideas swirling about, creating a nice, energetic environment for the evening.  Our original key speaker from Idea Apps, co-founder Marie Ysais, was unfortunately unable to participate but the presentation went on with Idea Apps’ Operations Manager Matt Jackson.

Idea Apps, Inc. is a mobile application development company that has been working closely with the IFS team.  The app developers build fully customized mobiles apps for all platforms, including iPhone, Android, and BlackBerry.  Matt spoke to the Xchange attendees about Idea Apps’ beginnings, the team’s experiences as the business has grown, and about the advantages of mobile app investment to both individuals and businesses.

Idea Apps has talented android app developers, iPhone app developers and other app developers for every platform from all over the world.

Thanks again to all who were able to make it out and be looking for information on our February Idea Xchange later this month!

The Center for Innovation and Technology Entrepreneurship at UTSA kicks off their semester long $100k Venture Start-Up Competition with the Technology Entrepreneurship Boot Camp.  The event is Saturday January 29, 2011 from 9:00 am to 4:30 pm and will feature numerous speakers, including the Idea Finishing School’s CFO Rudy W. de la Garza, discussing important start-up business considerations like intellectual property protection, business plan development, strategic marketing, and much more.

Other speakers include Stephanie Chandler of Jackson Walker LLP, Vin Montes UTSA graduate and founder of NERD Beverage, Deb Bolner Prost CEO of Prost Marketing, and George Karutz of Karutz Flavin Wells Investment Bankers.

The event is free for UTSA faculty, students, and staff as well as faculty and students from other institutions.  The Technology Entrepreneurship boot camp is $95 for the general public.  The event will include valuable information, courtesy lunch, and refreshments.  Click here to register.

Our sponsor accounting firm, David Plemons, CPA, hosts free seminars each month, much like the Idea Finishing School’s Idea Xchange.  This month’s free seminar is on the Nuts and Bolts of Starting a Business and Protecting Your Assets While Going into Business.  Take this opportunity to discuss all your financial and accounting-related questions with experienced professionals.  Best of all, its free!

There are two choices for dates to attend:  January 25, 2011 from 9:00am to 11:00am or January 29, 2011 from 10:00am to 12:00pm.  Seating is limited, so make sure  to visit their website or email them today to RSVP.

Its a new year and the Idea Finishing School’s team is kicking it off right! 2011′s first Idea Xchange is just around the corner and will be held on Wednesday January 26, 2011 at 6:00pm. Our keynote speaker will be Marie Ysais, co-founder of Idea Apps, Inc.  Rudy De La Garza, CFO of IFS and Idea Apps, will also be speaking.

Idea Apps, Inc. is a mobile application development company that has been working closely with the IFS team. Idea Apps has assembled the best Android app developers and iPhone app developers in the world.  They develop fully customized mobiles apps for all platforms, including iPhone, Android, and BlackBerry, Facebook and more. Marie will be speaking on the background of Idea Apps, her experiences with starting a new business, and the value of mobile applications for businesses.  She will also explain how easy it is to take app ideas and develop them into successful mobile apps.

Mark your calendars and make sure to join us on January 26, 2011 for the Idea Finishing School’s January 2011 Idea Xchange!  Click the TweetVite button below to RSVP!

The team here at the Idea Finishing School is always looking for new ways to help our early-stage companies develop and grow.  As more and more companies have joined the IFS, we’ve realized that a great opportunity exists to establish a strong network of professionals and organizations that can be tapped to help one another.  This opportunity led to our first Group Brainstorming Meeting.

In attendance was the Idea Finishing School’s Rudy De La Garza, several of the IFS investors, and all of the current Idea Finishing School participants, including PREE Corporation, Idea Apps Inc, Flicks and Food, Invictus Engineering Inc, Atrack Software, and HypeNyte Inc.  Everybody who attended took turns introducing themselves, spoke a little bit about their backgrounds, and then each company described their business and developments thus far.  Great ideas were bounced around as people asked questions, discussed obstacles, and talked with each other.

All in all, the Idea Finishing School’s first Brainstorming was a huge success.  The energy could easily be felt in that room and we will definitely be holding more brainstorming and networking meetings in the future.

This past Saturday was the Fall 2010 $100K Venture Start-Up Competition at the University of Texas at San Antonio.  It is business plan competition hosted by the Center for Innovation and Technology Entrepreneurship at UTSA, which is an interdisciplinary center that serves as an incubator for UTSA faculty, students, and the San Antonio business community to develop new technology ventures.  Entrepreneurship and engineering students are paired together to develop a business around the engineer’s various technologies.  Students compete for the chance to win thousands in start-up funding, including intellectual property protection, legal services, office space, and much more!

The Idea Finishing School’s Rudy De La Garza was in attendance as a judge for the second year in a row; and PREE Corporation‘s Matthew Jackson and Amanda DeKay attended as well.  The $100K Venture Start-Up Competition is the very same competition that PREE participated in this past Spring before signing up to work with the Idea Finishing School.  PREE has since been working with CITE to mentor the students as well.

There was a wide variety of technologies in development ranging from medical and energy devices to  military and racing applications.  You could tell the students had put tremendous amounts of work into their business plans, prototypes, and presentations.  All in all, it was a great event with many great business ideas!  Rudy and the team have been hard at work since then, working to add some of these great businesses as our clients!  Stay tuned for updates!